The Premier League’s global popularity is unquestionable, its total income from foreign rights deals from 2010-13 inclusive will be £1.437bn, or £479m a year – four times that of La Liga, more than six times what Serie A earns annually and almost fourteen times the foreign income of the Bundesliga. So it is perhaps no wonder Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are maximising their potential with pioneering deals that could well see other clubs follow suit.
Manchester United recently announced a deal with Hong Kong-based telecommunications giant PCCW who will broadcast the club’s television channel, MUTV, in addition to making content available online, through mobile phones and its EYE2 portable media centre and the lucrative nature of such a deal could instigate a flurry of similar deals in the future.
United’s commercial director Richard Arnold said: “We continue to support the collective bargaining because it makes the Premier League incredibly competitive,”
“But there are other rights that centre around the club and players, where our access is not paralleled anywhere else. It would be very surprising not to put into place something that allowed you to communicate with fans all over the world.”
And such a deal may well open upon untold possibilities for both the club and the Premier League, as well as alleviating the debt amassed by the Glazer family since their controversial takeover in 2005.
Premier League clubs may be able to inflate their income through hi-tech media in other major countries where there is high demand for coverage and media has certainly become the lion share of ticketing, sponsorship and media.
Meanwhile, Tottenham have announced a sponsorship deal with specialist banking and asset firm Investec who will be their second sponsor for Champions League and domestic cups and this more set a trend whereby other Premier League clubs split sponsorship in order to maximise profits from shirt sales throughout the season.
Spurs fans will now have to purchase a different shirt as a token of their Champions League adventures and cutting their sponsorship cloth a different way may see a change in football shirts over the next few years if the venture is successful. Football shirts may become more like Rugby shirts with numerous sponsors on the sleeves – such is the popularity of the Premier League many companies would be more than happy to participate.
A sponsorship consultant said: “I think that other clubs may now look at ways of increasing the value of their shirt sponsorship.”
It is highly likely that we see Daniel Levy’s clever ploy to earn more money from sponsorship around the country, the only question that would remain is whether fans would fork out their hard-earned cash on two shirts a season.
Birmingham City fans are dismayed at the lack of availability with regards to their new Xtep shirt due to the China floods and they try to exploit the Asian market with Carson Yeung at the helm and it is likely it will not be in shops until October. Although it is rare, such problems can arise and with the prices of football shirts around £40 for a few months of football before it is inevitably changed come the summer – two shirts may be that step too far.